Feature Archives

On July 25, about 2,000 people gathered at Oscar Grant Plaza in Oakland to stand in solidarity with the uprising in Portland, Oregon. They expressed outrage at Trump’s order to send federal agents into U.S. cities including Portland. Many spoke out against systemic racism, institutionalized white supremacy and the need to defund and dismantle the police. Others expressed outrage with Trump’s order to send Federal agents into U.S. cities under a racist “Law and Order” pretext.

APTP writes: The people of Oakland moved one step closer to realizing the goal of refunding resources to the community. After weeks of sustained protest and direct action, City Council unanimously approved a resolution to create an official task force to determine how to cut the Oakland Police Department’s budget by 50% next year. In recent weeks, thousands of Oakland residents have joined what has become an international call to invest in services that truly keep people safe by divesting from police.

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to surge, Native Americans are manifesting resilience, from the San Carlos Apache running to protect their sacred land from copper mining to the Kumeyaay standing to protect their sacred land from the border wall construction. Lakota are cooking hot meals for relatives in quarantine, while Dine' and Hopi raise their own funds and deliver food, water and supplies to those most in need. On the Navajo Nation, volunteers are the only ones bringing supplies to those in quarantine.

The original Mission Santa Cruz adobe and the replica mission were spray painted during a demonstration organized in Santa Cruz in support of the abolition of police. The phrase "Fuck Your Citizenship" was painted on the Neary-Rodriguez Adobe, and the phrase "Maldita Cruz" was spray painted on two structures. Additionally, the word "genocide" was painted on the state park plaque, and the mission bell located in Mission Plaza Park was removed. Two weeks later, Mission Santa Cruz was spray painted again during a defund police march.

On July 20, as part of the national Strike for Black Lives, protesters marched on a McDonald's restaurant in Oakland. The demonstration was part of a nationwide action called “Strike for Black Lives.” McDonald's and other fast food restaurants were targeted for not taking adequate precautions against Covid-19 for their workers, predominantly Black and Brown people. Protesters marched up Telegraph Avenue and into the parking lot at the McDonald's at Telegraph and 45th Street.

Since April 24, homeless advocacy groups have been raising money to move unsheltered Oakland residents into hotels, in an attempt to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Through crowdfunding and social media, the volunteer-run effort has raised nearly $123,000 in donations to house 43 unsheltered Oakland residents. The program currently has a waiting list of unhoused residents interested in moving in. Fill Hotels Not Graves is a collaboration of The East Oakland Collective, Love and Justice in the Streets, and The Village in Oakland.

Around 75 people attended a vigil in Fresno on the evening of July 18 in honor of Vanessa Guillen, where a mural featuring her likeness had just been completed. The mural is one of a number of Guillen that have been painted across the country. As part of the Black Lives Matter movement there have been several murals painted around Fresno recently. Guillen was a 20-year-old soldier in the U.S. Army who was killed by a male soldier at Fort Hood, Texas, on April 22. Her remains weren’t found until June 30.